Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi all

As we know, the Imperium is incredibly wasteful. My question, what is done with all their waste. Obviously with Hive worlds, they dump the toxins into the atmosphere. I was wondering about metals etc. Do they have some system to reuse them (or though I cant imagine there is a departmento for recycling), or would they use planets to dump this waste.

I would have thought there isn't much cannon fluff about this, so your thoughts?

Plus, I was wondering what an Ork Mek would make of such a planet (this is the real reason for asking the question).

Look forward to your thoughts

Biological waste on hive worlds is recycled into food(this is the other source of food,the other are agri-worlds),
the Imperium doesn't use recycling because 40k would be less grimdark(I think that it varies world to world),
Big Mek would make entire armored legions if he founded that kind of planet,
I think that forge worlds re-use wasted metals and one of the reason that Imperium doesn't use that because authorities on some worlds could be incompetent or some don't even think of that because they have entire galaxy full of resources at their hand.On ships every thing is recycled(I think).

I think valuable metals would definatley be melted down and reused, but pollution is rampant. That's why Armageddon Steel Legionaires and Krieg Regiments wear gas masks. Their world are so polluted that they are almost uninhabitable.

Biological waste includes corpses, they're turned into food as well.


I remember there being mention of air purifiers as well, I think itmight have been in Mechanicum or the Inquisitor trilogy, I know the Inquisitor one heavily hints towards corpses being turned into food. Also that the public would generally be unaware of it or something like that.

Dark Heresy has 'Corpse Starch Rations'.

n0t_u wrote:Biological waste includes corpses, they're turned into food as well.

I can confirm that at least the AdMec uses this process to provide their skitarii with sustenance. There's a reference to this in "Storm of Iron" or "Dark Apostle" I think (don't exactly remember which... those were some of the first 40k books I ever read, and the thought just kinda stuck)

Charlton Heston wrote:Soylent Green is people!!

Why don't they launch the gargbage into a sun? The problem would be mostly solved as far as polution is concerned. But I think there might be worlds out there that have no choice but to recycle more thoughly.

I was thinking the same as tigsonekay. Kinda like the futurama episode where they launch a huge ball of garbage at another ball of garbage.

In the necromunda source book it mentions the hivers eating the waste of the higher (literally and symbolically) castes. Only the nobles had access to actual (agri-world) food. The rest was (repeatedly) recycled on it's way down the hive... ewww...

Could some of the Imperium worlds have better ways to process food than uh...eat their own wastes repeatedly?

I mean, look at all the marvelous things we do with cats. I'm pretty sure some Imperium worlds have thought of doing this by raising local populations of critters for consumption.

As for metallic and industrial wastes, wouldn't it be hard to re-use "ancient" technology that techpriests maintain?